Electrical system event, Saab SF-340B, VH-ORX, Lismore, New South Wales

On 21 January 2006, at 1155 Eastern Daylight-saving Time, a Saab AB SF340B aircraft, registered VH-ORX, departed Lismore Aerodrome, NSW, on a scheduled regular public transport flight to Sydney, NSW. On board were 3 crew and 21 passengers. Shortly after passing 8,000 ft on climb, the crew received a master caution warning indicating that there had been numerous system failures. After conducting failure management procedures, the crew elected to return to the departure aerodrome. while en-route to the departure aerodrome they received another master caution indicating a hydraulic failure. The crew then diverted to Coolangatta Aerodrome.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the K9 circuit breaker had been tripped. The investigation by the operator revealed that it was possible to inadvertently trip the circuit breaker when moving a navigation folder for use

As a result of the occurrence the operator issued an Operations Notice to flight crew advising that items are not to be stored on the circuit breaker panel and that all circuit breakers are to be checked correctly during failure management procedures.